Underwater goggles



DecQs, 1939. C, H, wlLEN ET XL 2,is2,104

UNDERWATER GOGGLES Filed sept. 9, 1938 2y sheets-sheet 1 Patented Dec.5, 1939 anais 'altares onennwaran docenas Charles Henry'Wi-len andAlexandre Kramarenko, Nice, France Application September 9, i939, SerialNo. wii

In France September 2%, i937 6 maints. 2nd@ wearer of the goggles.

In an application filed September 4, 1937,-b Alexandre Kramarenko,Serial No. 162,399-, there is shown and described'a submarine fishinggun which is adapted to shoot a pointed 'memben such as an arrow, by aperson swimming, diving .or submerged under water. In order to do thiseffectively, the person should wear an apparatus such as the goggles tobe described herein, in order to keep the water out of the eyes andthereby not obstruct the vision.

It is therefore the principal object of our in- -vention to provide anapparatus or goggles which will snugly t over the eyes of the user andeffectively keep water out of the chamber formed in the apparatusforward of the part which engages the users face.

While certain types of goggles have heretofore been proposed forunderwater use, there are many objections to them; for example, certaindesigns use individual metal frames each with a glass therein, likeordinary spectacles, they frames being made of aluminum which is`subjectto corrosion in salt water.. We have found from practical tests inshooting sh under water in the manner described in the said Kramarenkoapplication that the glasses or goggles must lie dat across the face ofthe user; that is to say, the glass or glasses must be in the sameplane, otherwise the person is quite likely to see double in the waterdue to the refraction ofthe light rays passing through the water.

Our experience with prior types of glasses has been that the' range' ofvision is limited therein, so it is a further object of our invention toprovide goggleshaving a wide range of vision without any blur or doublevision therefrom. To accomplish this, we have found, from experiments,that the goggle herein described fulfills the primary objects abovestated, together with other objects which will be clear to one familiarwith the use of. this type 'of apparatus.

Our invention will be readily understood and appreciated by reference tothe annexed drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a View of a swimmer oruser of one form of our invention, inwhich an auxiliary air chamber is shown protruding upwardly from thegoggles.

,Figure 2 is a front view of the goggles shown in Figure l, on asomewhat enlarged scale but without the auxiliary air chamber.

Figure 3 is a rear View of Figure 2. Y

Figure 4 is a view looking down on the top of Figure 3. c

Figure 5 is an end view of the goggles, a portion p being broken away toshow the means of attaching the holding means or strap.

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6 8 of Figure 4. Figure 7 is a view ona much reduced scale showing a modified form of the apparatus.'-

In the various views, wherein like numbers refer to .correspondingparts, I illustrates the bridge portion of the goggleshaving a formation2 adapted to t over the noseof the user. Fastened in the bridge portionI is a single piece orl sheet of suitable glass 3, such as anon-breakable or non-shatterable type. The glass 3 is hermeticallysealed into the bridge portion l which can be made of any suitablematerial, rubber vulcanized to the proper point being preferred.

As shown in Figure 6 the glass 3 is set into are- Av20 cess 4 in thebridge and a suitable cement v5 is' Y used to hermetically seal theglass 3 in the forward portion of the bridge. As shown in Figure 2, theopposite ends or extremities of the bridge have a considerable taper 6extending rearwardly to an opening indicated by the line 'l which is theboundary'of what we term the rim portion of the apparatus.

As shown in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive, the rim is composed of two spacedflaps 8 and 9 which project outwardly from` the bridge I. Integrallyconnected between the flaps 8 and 9 are a plurality of spaced braces IIJwhich are of bendable material, it -being understood that in ourpreferred form the entire vstructure is made of'rubber lso that theflaps B and 9 and braces I0 are bendable, and the outer ap 9 whichengages the face of the user is adapted to be pressed toward the flap 8through the bending of the braces l0. At opposite ends of the rim formedbythe flaps 8 and 9 there are reenforcements II and I2 which arepreferably moulded integrally with the .aps 8 and 9; and passing belowthese reenforcements or anchor portions, are fasteners i3 and I4 whicharein the shape of metal clamps. In 45 order to prevent the metalfasteners I3 and I4 y from cutting into the portions II-and I2, weprefer to position over the fasteners, behind the .portions II and I2,reenforcement members l5 and I6 which are preferably in the form of rub-50 berl tubing which is slipped over the fasteners before they areforced into closed position when assembled to the goggles. Joining thefasteners I3 and I4 is a flexible strap il which can be adjusted to getthe 'right 'tension through the 5g;v

medium of the member it forming a part of the fasteners i3 and ld;

By forming the rim in this manner, we get a self-adjusting and easyengagement surface of substantial width or area around the eyes of theuser, so that when the strap il is properly adjusted, a water-tightcontact is insured at the face-engaging portion of the apparatus.

It will be noted that the glass 3 is spaced a material distanceforwardly of the rim and that due to the angular spread 1, shown moreparticularly in Figure 2, and further due to the fact that a singlecontinuous piece of glass is used, a wide and unobstructed range ofvision is obtained. Furthermore, the structure being made of rubber issubstantially unbreakable, noncorrosive and impervious to water.

In certain cases the bridge l may be provided with an orifice i9 inwhich may be inserted the stem 2B of an auxiliary air container orchamber.

2l which may be used when the swimmer is going into relatively deepWater, for example, to a depth of twenty feet or thereabout, in whichcase the pressure ofthe Water acting on the container- Which is made ofcompressible material such as soft rubber-will compressthe same andforce the air therein into the chamber formed between the glass 3 andthe facial rim, thereby tending to Y balance the pressure of the wateragainstthe glass 3 and relieving the pressure against the face of theswimmer. When the air container 2l is not used, the hole I9 is stoppedup with a suitable' plug 22.

'an opening i9 to take the auxiliary air chamber or container 2i.

From the above description it will be seen that the 'glass 3 is alwaysin the same plane and the arrangement is such as to provide the clearestvision possible, thereby lessening the fatigue and discomfort of theuser. It will be noted in passing that the strap i7 is preferably madeWide enough sc as to cover the opening into the ears of the user,further adding to the comfort of the user; in fact, the strap may carrysuitable pads to entirely covery the ears and keep water outv of them.

It is also to be further noted that the construction of the goggles issuch as lto leave the nose and mouth free for normal breathing, which webelieve to be a new and important feature in a mono-goggle using asingle glass in the same plane.

Having thus described the preferred form of our invention, what we claimis:

1. Goggles especiallyffor use under Water cornprising a bridge portionimpervious to water and adapted to t on the nose and across the eyes ofa user, a single piece of plate glass hermetically sealed in and carriedby the bridge portion and forming the forward wall of a chamber, saidchamber having a rim at a substantial distance aieaioe to the rearof theglass and adapted to :fit the face of the user, said rim beingimpervious to water but readily compressible and having a contact areaso as to insure that the chamber is securely closed when in place on theuser, and

` bridge portion a substantial distance forwardly of the eyes and sealedin position on the bridge, the goggles having a rim impervious to waterspaced from theglass and formed to t around the eyes of a user and beingcompressible so as to yield to a holding force, the rim opening hav-Ying a length to span across the eyes of a user while the opening in thebridge which is closed by the glass is materially greater than said rimopening, and means for holding the goggles onto the head of auser so therim will make a substantially water-tight joint with the users face.

3. Underwater goggles as set forth in claim 2, further defined in thatthe rim comprises two portion and having bendable braces spa-ced atintervals between the flaps, the outer flap being the one which directlyengages the face'of the user.

4. Apparatus for seeing under water comprising a structure to be wornover the eyes of a user, said structure including a bridge of materialimpervious to water and having a formation to t the nose, a single glassplate carried by the front portion of the bridge and sealed therein, thestructure having a rim spaced from the glass and adapted to make asingle-loop contact around the eyes of a user, the glass beingmaterially longer lengthwise of the bridge than'the longitudinal lengthof the opening formed by the rim to provide wide-angle Vision throughthe glass,

the rim being compressible, and means for holding the structure onto thehead of a user solas to compress the rim and form a closed chamberaround the eyes.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further characterized in that yacompressible air container is carried directly by the bridge, said aircontainer having a passagewayjinto the space between the glass plate.and the face of a user whereby when they user goes into relatively deepwater the air in said container is forced by the pressure of the wateron the container into said pressure of the water on the container'intosaidv space as and for the purpose described, and still further dened inthat .the rim is in the form of a sealed duct provided with means forpassing air under pressure thereinto. i

CHARLES H. WILEN.

spaced flaps extending outwardly from the bridge i l i 1 ALEXANDREKRAMARENKO. i

